


Not a Game

by MayRaven1798



Series: Alternative Lal [4]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Conspiracy, Data/Geordi implied, Doubt, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:47:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27699869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayRaven1798/pseuds/MayRaven1798
Summary: Next instalment in my Lal series. Retelling of the episode “The Game”. Not super faithful to the original plot, but similar. This time Wesley is in a relationship with Lal. What happens when the cadet catches Robin Lefler’s attention, but isn’t single? Also...if Data wasn’t affected by the game does this mean Lal isn’t either?It should not be necessary to read the other stories in this series first. Rated Mature for select content.
Relationships: Data & Lal (Star Trek), Lal (Star Trek) & Robin Lefler, Wesley Crusher & Robin Lefler, Wesley Crusher/Lal
Series: Alternative Lal [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1982974
Comments: 6
Kudos: 3





	1. Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> This first part catches us up with the characters and sets the scene. I will try my best to keep this story from being too dull since it is based on an actual episode. I also want to keep it lighter than my last instalment.
> 
> As always, I do not own Star Trek TNG, it’s characters, etc. Although I do like giving Lal a new home and a life she never had :)

Lal was practically humming with anticipation. She knew that there was a surprise planned and she was meant to do her part and ignore Wesley until they could make the big reveal. But she honestly couldn’t wait any longer to see her boyfriend.

Beverly Crusher did her best not to disparage the young android as she fidgeted restlessly beside her. Though she did wonder when exactly Lal had started playing with her hands like that. It was obviously a nervous and very human habit.

“Excited to see him?” Beverly asked as she placed a hand on the girl’s arm in an attempt to calm her down. 

The original plan was to have no one meet her son at his arrival and surprise him later with a party after he was thoroughly disappointed about being forgotten. But as soon as Lal insisted one being there anyways, the doctor wanted to keep her from ruining their well made plans.

“It has been ten months, three weeks, fours days and eighteen hours since we were last in the same room together,” Lal told her eagerly. “Although we have spoken frequently in our messages, I have found his absence difficult.”

“I suppose long distance is hard for anyone, even an android,” Beverly mused affectionately.

She nodded her response as the transporter came to life. Within moments Wesley was standing on the pad, smiling. His expression waned a little when he realized it was only the two of them there to greet him.

“Welcome home, Wes,” his mother said with open arms. Her son descended from the platform and eagerly accepted her embrace.

“Where is everyone?” he asked with obvious disappointment.

Lal waved at him and opened her arms the same as his mother had done. “I am here, Wesley,” she beamed.

The cadet chuckled warmly before rushing over to her. He only wished that he could have picked her up and twirled her around. It was one of the pitfalls of having an android as a girlfriend.

“I missed you, Lal,” he said with genuine affection before bending down and giving her a kiss full on the lips. 

It was a little more chaste than she was expecting, but Lal concluded it was most likely because his mother was watching them and waiting to show him to his guest cabin.

After the excitement of his surprise homecoming gathering was over, Wesley made his way down to Engineering with Geordi. He always felt the most at home there. Even if he was technically on vacation, he couldn’t pass up some quality time in the belly the of Enterprise.

Within minutes he was already at a workstation and catching up with some of the crew. A young woman he didn’t recognize approached him from behind. At first everything was pleasantries and business as usual, but something about her beautiful face and the flash of mischief in her hazel eyes made him blush.

Lal decided to make an attempt at pulling Wesley away from working while on holiday. As she arrived just outside of Engineering she paused, suddenly unsure of herself. She watched with suspicion as her boyfriend spoke to one of the newer ensigns and smiled in that goofy, boyish way of his. The way he used to smile at her. 

Then, when he distractedly almost missed his seat because he was still making eyes at the attractive ensign, something broke inside of her. Lal quietly backed down the corridor without so much as a hello. Something in her chest hurt and her feet felt oddly heavy as she dragged them all the way back to the turbolift.

The ensign’s name was Robin Lefler and she was one of Geordi’s most promising new engineers. She was tall, shapely and four and half years older than Wesley. That made her a woman, an experienced woman. Something Lal wasn’t sure she could compete with. It was one thing to convince herself that her human boyfriend would remain faithful while he was so far away and out of sight at the academy. It was another to have the reality of the man he was becoming shoved in her face.

As Lal stood, heartbroken, waiting for the lift to arrive, she felt someone come to stand beside her. It was Wesley. He must have seen her after all and come after her.

“Hey Lal, were you coming down to meet me?” It was a simple enough question, but he was worried to see her looking so sullen.

“I thought perhaps you would prefer to spend more time with Ensign Lefler,” she replied.

“Lefler?” he asked as he looked back over his shoulder distractedly. “I just met her. True, I’d like to get to know her better. You know, pick her brain about her experiences at the academy.” He paused his rambling when he began to realize that what he was saying was only making her more upset. “But I’m here for such a short time and I would much rather be with you.”

“Are you sure I would not be wasting your time?” She sounded distant and not at all the same as when she had met him in the Transporter room earlier that same day. 

“Lal, are you jealous? You shouldn’t be,” he assured her.

“How could I be jealous? I do not know if you are even still my boyfriend anymore,” she said frankly as she finally looked up at him, the hurt she was feeling filling her eyes.

“Lal, of course I am,” he said without missing a beat. “I love you.”

She let herself smile at him, though it wasn’t a real smile. “And I love you,” she replied sadly.

Wesley took her face in both hands and gazed meaningfully into her eyes. “I’m not just saying it. I want you to understand that attractive, intelligent women will always make me act like a flustered dork, but my heart is yours. I’m yours,” he said lovingly.

She nodded and felt foolish about how she had overreacted. Never had she been so easily deterred by a little innocent competition. She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him greedily as the lift arrived.

Robin couldn’t help her curiosity as she observed the couple from afar. Geordi caught her spying and grinned. The young woman looked awfully surprised to see them kissing so publicly.

“They’re cute aren’t they,” he said lightheartedly.

The brunette glance at her superior and frowned, creasing her brow. She wanted to agree, but she also didn’t quite understand. “So Crusher is involved with Data’s daughter?”

“Yeah, for quite some time actually,” Geordi informed her. 

“Huh, I always thought she was, I don’t know, incapable of romantic involvement,” she said nonchalantly.

Geordi laughed and shook his head at her. “Well that’s because you’ve only been on the Enterprise for a couple of months. Lal has been very diligent about her commitment to their relationship.”

“Wow, I obviously had no idea,” she admitted. Then she returned to her station before adding, “It’s too bad really.”

“Oh, how’s that?” 

“I’ve heard a few questionable stories about our young Mr. Crusher. I just hope Lal doesn’t get her little synthetic heart broken,” Robin told him with a smirk.

Geordi didn’t care for her tone and he didn’t like to gossip. So he held back from prying for more information. He would just have to trust that he knew Wesley better than she did.

.....

Lal was eager to show Wesley her new bedroom. She no longer needed to spend her nights in the cybernetics lab, so it was only logical for her to have a room of her own. It was hard for Wesley to recall at times that this beautiful young woman had only been alive for a few years.

“What do you think?” she asked as she led him by his hand. 

It was honestly no bigger than a walk-in closet and Wesley was left wondering if it was safe for the both them to be in there at the same time. Her bed was a small cot, only big enough for herself. If they were going to fool around it wasn’t going to be in here.

“It’s...cosy,” he said with an awkward grin.

Lal knew why her boyfriend was being so hesitant, but she didn’t care. It was her little space, at least when their cat Spot wasn’t using it for her naps.

“I know it is small,” she told him offhandedly. “I believe it is non-regulation size for any oxygen breathing person.”

Wesley couldn’t help but laugh at her remark. “Is it okay for Spot to be in here if the door closes?”

She rolled her eyes at him—actually rolled them. He melted at how much more natural and human she had become in his absence. He kissed her longingly and she nudged him back into the main living area.

“What not enough oxygen for us to kiss?” he joked.

“Just in case,” she replied.

They spent that evening talking and catching up. Wesley got to hear about her renewed passion for hospitality and event planning. It was an odd vocation for an android, but who was he to belittle her choice. She had her whole life to try new things; theoretically a lifespan that could continue well after he was dead and dust. 

Lal only noticed much later that Wesley hadn’t been as enthusiastic about sharing the details of his experiences on campus. He seemed content to let her go on about her life instead. She decided that maybe he was saving his stories for another time.

Data returned sometime later with Geordi. The engineer prepared them dinner while Data played his violin. Wesley was admittedly tired from travelling and all the excitement of the day. He fell asleep with his head in Lal’s lap and the cat curled into his side. Lal could not have been happier to have her little family complete.

......


	2. Sexual Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin gets flirty. Lal shows Wesley a gift from Commander Riker. What could it be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is some mention of events from “Field Trip” but nothing that is necessary to have read it.

Wesley was concentrating on the readouts on the screen and didn’t notice when Robin slid into the seat next to him.

“Back again, I see,” she teased. When he didn’t pay her any attention she tried again. “I’m curious, why are you enrolled at Starfleet Academy?”

That was enough to break his focus. The young man met her playful gaze and she held him hostage for a moment too long before he realized how physically close they were to one another. In fact her shoulder was touching his and as she turned slightly and leaned on the console her breast brushed his arm.

He was certain it was an accident. It had to be. Most women went out of their way not to be treated like sex objects. But even if was unintentional it still made him blush.

“W-what?” he asked innocently as his face went red and he leaned away from her ever so slightly.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Captain Picard gift you the rank of full ensign?” she inquired as she took it upon herself to lean froward as he leaned back. “Why waste your valuable talents at the academy?” 

“Because I can still benefit from the teachings there,” he said reflexively.

“Hmm, are you sure?” she questioned with feigned seriousness. “Not many officers your age have been on the front lines facing off against the Borg. Fewer still have served Bridge shifts on a flagship and assisted their Chief Engineer in team leading.”

Wesley was at a loss for words. He barely knew this young woman, but she seemed to know everything there was to know about him.

“Did you research me?” he asked sheepishly as he fidgeted in his seat.

“Let’s just say I researched what it would take to succeed on the Enterprise and your name came up...a lot,” she told him with a grin.

“I get it, I’m like some kind of oddity,” he said with a nervous laugh. He felt a bit better knowing that it wasn’t him personally she was interested in, just his lofty ideals.

“Sure, you’re my roll model of sorts,” she conceded. “So, you can see why I don’t understand why you gave all this up to take a step backwards. Historically cadets can get commissioned and continued their studies on active duty. Why couldn’t you?”

He gave the question some thought. It would have been unorthodox to remain on the Enterprise as an ensign without completing his training in the tradition of experiencing academy life. It was not only expected, it was basically mandatory. 

“Because the historical instances you’re talking about were during times of war,” he rebutted. “Thank goodness this isn’t one of those times.”

“That’s fair, I guess,” she replied as she re-pinned a misbehaving lock of hair. Really it was an excuse to flaunt her chest as she reached up to adjust her otherwise perfect bun. “How long are you visiting?” she added as she caught him staring.

Wesley snapped out of the trance he had fallen into and chided himself internally for being such a dog. “About ten days and then I have to start on my way back,” he explained as he adverted his eyes.

Robin grinned at him with the same glint of mischief he had seen in her the day before. It made his insides flutter and his pulse race. He could see now why Lal had gotten so putout by it. Before he could react she was pulling him by the arm. His eyes darted around Engineering, guilty of something that hadn’t even happened yet. No one seemed to notice the pair as they wandered off.

Robin led him through to one of the recesses used to access some of the Jeffries tubes. She made sure to secure the door behind her before slamming his back up against the access latter and kissing him hard on the mouth.

It took Wesley’s brain a solid minute to catch up to what was happening. He let out a noise of complaint and harshly pushed her away by her shoulders.

“What the hell are you doing!?” he cried with indignation.

“You know exactly what I’m doing,” she said in a low husky voice. She tried to kiss him again, but he quickly turned his face away from her. 

“I have a girlfriend,” he said sharply. 

“You think she wants to join us? I’m not usually like that, but I’m willing to try anything once,” she mused, unfazed by his protests.

“For someone who thinks they know so much about me, I can’t believe you thought I would be into this,” he said as he retreated further. He hit the panel by the door, but it refused to open.

“I just thought you deserved to feel real human flesh against your body, but I guess your kink is for cold, artificial sex. I assume your android girlfriend lets you screw her from time to time.”

Wesley’s eyes flashed with anger. Robin was just being her subversive, playful self, but they didn’t know each other very well yet and obviously she had gone too far. She was expecting him to retaliate, scream in her face, or if she was lucky, roughly prove how wrong she was. But he didn’t speak right away and, to her dismay, he never laid a finger on her.

“Open the door,” he commanded in little more than a whisper.

“Fine. Suit yourself,” she snarked coldly. “I guess you’re more comfortable with your submissive doll.”

Robin leaned past him and keyed in the code and the door swished open. He glared at her momentarily before stepping out.

“Word of advice,” Wesley said just as coldly, compelled to warn her. “Don’t say shit like that about Lal in front of Geordi or he’ll have you transferred so fast your head will spin.”

Again she seemed unfazed. “Word of advice to you, Crusher,” she said in response, causing him to stop and listen. “Don’t let Lal find out about your fast friendship with Nick Locarno. You wouldn’t want her to get the wrong idea.”

Without another word, Wesley stalked off. He avoided Main Engineering for the rest of that day. It wasn’t worth the stress or distraction.

.....

Lal could tell that Wesley was in a mood. She sat patiently waiting for him to finish his dinner, but grew more concerned by the minute as he continued shuffling his vegetables around his plate rather than eating.

She wanted to cheer him up, so she briefly left her seat and when she returned she placed something beside his plate.

“What is that?” Wesley asked as he put down his fork and picked up the device.

“Commander Riker brought it back from his last shore-leave on Risa,” Lal told him with a smile. “I have not tried it myself since it is unlikely to have any effect on my positronic matrix, however I am told that it is a game with the most pleasing reward when a level is completed.”

“Oh, yeah? What kind of reward?” He wondered briefly if this was Riker’s personal device, or if he had made copies for all of his friends. Wesley did think it was strange that he would gift something like this to Lal, though.

His girlfriend leaned in closer as though she was about to tell him a secret. This made him smile because they were alone in his cabin and she had no reason to be so covert. “I have been told that it is a sensation akin to sexual orgasm,” she whispered.

His brown eyes went wide. Maybe he was wrong. She had every reason to whisper.

“Lal, I’m not going to play this,” he stated with an awkward chuckle. Then he put it down and pushed it away as though it had offended him. “Thanks for the gesture, but if I want to feel sexual satisfaction I’ll share it with you.”

While Lal appreciated the sentiment, she could tell that there was something strained about it. “You seem very distracted this evening. Is there something bothering you?”

“No...alright yes, there is; but I don’t want to talk about it,” he stumbled inelegantly.

Lal moved next to him and offer her figurative and literal support. She place an arm around his back and kissed his cheek. “I am here for you if you do want to talk,” she said compassionately.

Wesley sighed and looked deep into her dark eyes. He hated this feeling, like he wasn’t being honest. He just didn’t want to upset her again. 

“I don’t, I’m sorry,” he replied.

“No need to be sorry,” she reassured him. Then she kissed his lips softly and leaned her forehead against his.

His heart ached for her, her gesture making him miss her all the more. Even though they were together and she was in his arms, it felt fleeting. He knew that he would be gone soon enough. It wasn’t fair. He could see now how he had taken her affections for granted. He had gone off to the academy and indulged not only in his education but in new and different experiences. All while she waited dutifully for him to return.

“I’ve really missed you,” he said with importance.

“I know you have; and I have missed you,” she added without hesitation.

“I just want you to know that despite what some people might think, or say, I have remained completely faithful to you.”

She pulled away and gave him a look of distrust then. “Why would you say something like that unless you are hiding something from me?”

“The only thing I’m keeping from you is how horrible some people can be.”

Lal didn’t look convinced. “This has something to do with Miss Lefler, does it not?”

“No...not exactly,” Wesley said with an exasperated sigh. Then he picked up the game and examined it. “It has a lot to do with things like this,” he said as he basically pointed at her with it. “Everyone is so obsessed with recreational sex and that being mature must also somehow involve a loose sense of morality.”

“Wesley, I do understand what you are talking about,” Lal told him as she took the device from him and abandoned it on the table. Then she took his hands in hers and squeezed them. “Do you mean that you and I are alike? That we will never see the universe as our sexual playground like Commander Riker does?”

“People think we’re weird because we’re so serious at such a young age,” he explained. “They can’t understand that we’re in love. They usually think I’m some sort of freak, or you don’t know any better because of your programming.”

“Did Miss Lefler try something with you?” she pressed. From the way her boyfriend squirmed uncomfortably, she could already tell that the ensign had done something. “You can tell me. I trust you.”

“I handled it,” he said as he moved away to sit on the bed. “It doesn’t matter.”

But Lal felt as though it did matter. They had been through too much together for her not to recognize the turmoil touching every part of him.

“Have others tried to take advantage of you?” she asked as she sat next to him.

“I told you I don’t want to talk about it,” he rebutted a little colder than intended.

“Wesley, despite my moment of doubt yesterday, you and I are partners. If someone has been unkind you can tell me. I am your person,” she said with conviction.

Instead of inspiring him to open up to her, he seemed to shut down further. “I’m supposed to be able to stand on my own. I’m supposed to be a man, Lal,” he said with distain at his own shortcomings. “But that’s not how I feel. I feel like that scared boy Lore kept hostage and most of the time I just want to give up and come home.”

Lal tried not to cry at the memory of their terrible ordeal. She often thought of how hard it was to watch him suffer, but also how she would rather relive those days than be without him as she had been all these months. She knew it was insane and selfish, but that was how much she missed seeing him everyday.

Wesley could see how upset she was becoming. He held her close and kissed her hair. He hated that he had brought up the past. He hated that she had doubted his feelings for her when he had first arrived. 

Soon they were kissing passionately, desperate to hold onto one another. Lal lovingly allowed him to press her back down onto the bed. She wanted nothing more in that moment than to feel him want her, need her, love her. When they connected, really melded, it was the most human she ever felt. When they made love he wasn’t just inside of her, he was a part of her and she was part of him. So it almost tore her to pieces when she pushed up at his chest and requested him to stop.

Wesley paused and stared down at her. His face a reflection of hers, flushed and full of confusion. “What’s wrong; why are you pushing me away?” he whined with need.

“Did you kiss Robin Lefler?” she asked, voice full of hurt.

“No...I mean, she kissed me, but I made her stop,” he confessed. “I didn’t want to kiss her.”

“Who else?” she inquired quietly.

“What?” He was dumbfounded by her desire to question him after he just explained how he didn’t want to talk about it. It was as though she knew he wouldn’t be thinking clearly now that so much of his brain was floating in hormones and chemicals.

“Who else tried to take advantage?” she asked, a little louder.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said again. “Please stop asking me.”

She could tell he was shutting down again and she didn’t want to be the cause of his pain, not when she was meant to be taking it away. So she nodded and brought him close and kissed him. 

As they continued get lost in each other’s taste and desires, Lal undid the closure of Wesley’s pants and pulled them down low enough to free his erection. She wriggled out of her leggings and guided him to her entrance, however, much to her surprise, he caught hand and stopped her progress.

“We do this almost every time and I hate it,” he grumbled, slurring some of his words as he fought against his body’s instincts.

“I do not understand...” she said as he sat up and began to fully undress.

“I want you, but not in some quick, needy way,” he said plainly. “I want to see you, all of you. I want us to touch and hold each other with love and affection. No more of this hiding and taking what we can get before someone catches us. It’s bad behaviour and we can do better.”

Lal smiled at his description of their sexual tendencies. It was true. In the past his time was so precious between his studies and his ship duties it left little time for them to appreciate one another fully. He was right when he said that they had very rarely seen each other completely without clothing and even rarer that they managed to get into a bed.

“Yes, Wesley. We can do better,” she mused as she stood and proceeded to drop her dress to the floor. 

It had been quite some time since the last time they had been so sexually intimate. He was older now, he would be twenty-one on his next birthday, and after several months apart she could see the changes in his form.

She did her best not to shy away as he raked his eyes over her body. Maybe it was less that he was looking at her and more that she could look at him if she wanted to. Her body was the same as it had always been, but his was different now. He was slightly taller and his shoulders were broader. He still had a boyish quality, only now it was mixed with maturity. His face was leaner and his chest and arms were more defined. 

Wesley cupped her face and kissed her deeply, relaying exactly how much he had missed her. As he stood over her, covering her body with his it made her feel protected. She knew that such a thought was more than likely a result of her female sexuality program than factual. As an android she was the one with the upper hand.

After one more kiss, Wesley pulled her towards the bed. She couldn’t help but giggle as she watched him climb bare-assed under the covers and invite her to join him. She found it amusing that although they were now naked, as he wanted, they would in bed and covered all the same. The main difference was that there bodies could touch uninhibited by their clothes. 

Soon enough he was back where they started, on top of her and ready to make love. As he entered her, he looked into her eyes. Then his eyes slowly fell shut before he buried his face in the curve of her neck and she could hear him grunt and whimper in her ear. She hooked her legs around his hips and arched into him, creating a better angle to receive him. 

Much of the act sexual intercourse was repetitive for Lal. Even the sensations, as wonderful as they felt, were becoming routine. That didn’t stop her from enjoying it, losing herself as she stopped processing and let him take to her equivalent of ecstasy. And she still adored how he looked when he started to come undone. And she absolutely loved that she was the one to this to him. No one else had, and if she could help it, no one else would.

Afterwards, Wesley pulled her close and cuddled her. Lal snuggled up against him, resting her head gently on his chest. There was always so much careful calculation that went into making sure she was creating enough weight to feel authentically connected, but never so much that she could risk making him physically uncomfortable. Or worse, crush him. She was fairly certain that Wesley never even considered these things when they were together. For him the illusion was real. She was just like any other girl whose head didn’t weigh far more than the expected amount.

He asked her stay the night even though she required no sleep. She eagerly obliged him and relished in their contact. Feeling his naked body touching hers in the afterglow of sex was almost more fascinating to her than the act itself had been. 

It was difficult to keep her mind from wandering back to their disagreement. A flash of jealousy went through her when she thought of how her maturing boyfriend was getting unwanted attention from other, very attractive women.

Robin Lefler was no Annette Jenkins; she was far more threatening. Annie had been a spiteful, innocent teen girl who had her feelings hurt. But Robin was a beautiful, cunning woman who was no doubt schooled in the ways of men. She was worried that a high achiever like Robin didn’t see ‘no’ as an acceptable answer, but rather as a challenge.

As Lal lay there listening to her lover breathe while he slept, she began to devise a plan to get what she ultimately wanted; to stay with Wesley no matter where he went, or who’s company he might find himself in. After all, they had been together for three years, nearly her entire life; surely she was more to him than just a girlfriend.

.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit that the second part got away from me, but even when I went back to edit it I still wanted to leave it all in. I hope it’s not too wordy and no one got bored. Cheers.


	3. Frenemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lal and Data get suspicious about the game. Robin warms up to Lal. Wesley is forced to think over his relationship.

“Excuse me,” Lal said politely to the officer that had just grazed past her. 

The man paid her no mind. He was in another world, absorbed in whatever level he was currently completing. Lal narrowed her eyes as she noted the game adorning his head and a wave of repulsion washed over her when he sighed loudly with satisfaction. 

This was the third person that morning she had seen wearing the device hooked around his ears. It seemed as though there should be a regulation about doing something so recreational and so entirely personal while on duty.

“Father, I have a question and want you to be honest with me,” Lal announced as she stood by Data’s side. She usually didn’t like to bother him when he was assisting Geordi in Engineering, but she was eager to get his opinion.

“If it is about those games, my advice is not to try it,” Data answered distractedly.

Her face scrunched in disgust at the very idea. “No, Father, ew!”

“Ew?” Data repeated as he locked eyes with his daughter. “That is a shorthand you undoubtedly picked up from Wesley,” he commented before adding, “How do you know it is something so distasteful?”

“Because it involves a cortex stimulant that activates the brain’s pleasure center,” she informed him, lowering her voice. “It is similar to sexual orgasm, Father.”

“And do you find orgasm distasteful?” he asked in the same quiet, yet polite tone.

“Not at all,” she declared as she resumed a normal volume. “What I find distasteful is how otherwise respectable officers are wandering this ship experiencing that which should be felt in private. This is not a bordello.”

“Ah, yes. I tend to agree. It is slightly unsettling how many people are using it,” Data said as he glanced around them. “Even Geordi is considering it.”

Lal held her tongue and did not say ‘ew’ again. It was true that she had recommended Wesley try it, but in retrospect she was very glad that he hadn’t. The way everyone wearing it looked so blissed out was disturbing to say the least.

“Do you believe it could be addictive?” she asked with real concern. “Commander Riker brought the game on board two days ago and it has quickly caught on.”

“That is a very good and very disconcerting query,” her father replied. “Perhaps I should bring this to the captain’s attention.”

Before Lal could comment, Ensign Lefler entered their section of Engineering. She gave the pair of androids an innocent side glance.

“Oh hey Lal,” said Robin as she passed by. “Did Wes show you those photos of his new squadron yet? Jeanie’s a peach, isn’t she. Such a beauty.”

Lal had no idea what the ensign was talking about. It didn’t matter to her, she knew Robin was probably trying to get her to doubt herself. Data gave Lal an auspicious look. He wasn’t unfamiliar with others being less than kind to his daughter.

“Is everything alright, Lal?” Data asked with concern.

“Yes, Father,” she answered promptly as she ignored Robin. “I think you should speak to Captain Picard. It would be terrible if this game became more than a passing fad.”

Data nodded and touched her arm supportively before asking, “What was it you wanted to speak to me about before we became distracted by the game?”

“I just wanted your opinion about something I am considering,” she said, though it felt little less important now. “It can wait.”

Data gave her another a nod and took his leave. The sooner they looked into this situation, the better. Even if all they discussed was how to deal with those crew who refused to put the darn thing down while on duty.

Lal was about to follow her father out when she looked over her shoulder at Ensign Lefler. A part of her wished she had the guts to study her effortless swagger. She must appear so mechanical when compared to a woman who moved with such fluidity and ease. 

Robin caught her staring and smirked. Lal swallowed her pride and walked the short distance in order to apologize.

“I am sorry,” she began. Only before she could finish Robin stopped her.

“No, Lal...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so petty,” she said, self-admonishing. “Your relationship is honestly none of my business. Good for you for snagging one of the good ones.”

Lal wanted to believe her. Her tone would suggest that she was being sincere and Geordi always had nothing but good things to say about the young ensign.

“Then you will not attempt to seduce my boyfriend?” Lal asked plainly and without malice.

“No, Lal. I was out of line,” Robin told her with a quick shake of her head. “I can’t believe I kissed him. I’m sort of embarrassed.” She paused then as she studied the android for a reaction. “Sorry, I assumed that he told you. Wes seems like that honest, ‘can’t keep a secret’ type.”

“He is and he did,” replied Lal with a small smile. “Wesley is most definitely one of the good ones,” she concurred.

“Good,” Robin said with some relief. “Jean Hagar is a friend of mine. She’s also been graced with an offer to join Nova Squad.” When Lal looked lost she added, “The flight team Wesley was invited to join?”

Lal still didn’t have a clue. She wondered if this was one of those things he was so reluctant to talk about. “He has not told me yet.”

“Huh, I wonder if he’s thinking of turning it down,” Robin said after giving it some thought. “That would be a surprise...although not completely.”

“How do you mean?”

“Nova Squad’s captain is Cadet Nicholas Locarno,” the Ensign explained. “He’s got a bit of a reputation and not all of it is as prestigious as Wesley’s. But hey, even Captain Picard was once a disreputable badass.”

Lal was not sure about that. She really didn’t know much about their captain beyond his service record and what her father had told her. She supposed it was possible that his tendency to bend the rules, especially early on in his career, could be seen by some as ‘badass’ behaviour.

“Robin, since we are no longer rivals, may I ask you something?” Lal ventured.

Robin laughed lightheartedly. She never would have considered them as rivals. Either Wesley wanted her, or he wanted Lal. To compare the two women would be like comparing oranges to pineapples.

“Sure, shoot,” she said after composing herself.

“Have you tried that new game from Risa?”

Robin frowned as she looked over at one of her colleagues currently ‘playing’ the game in question. “No, I haven’t. I prefer to get my kicks from an attractive, warm body and not a cold, unfeeling machine. No offence.”

Lal furrowed her brow as she considered the comment and how it might offend her. “I assure you that I am neither cold in temperature, nor am I devoid of compassion even if I happen to technically be a machine,” she informed the ensign quite seriously.

This made Robin erupt with another bout of laughter. “I like you, Lal. You’re alright,” she mused through her giggles.

“Can I presume that you are laughing at what I said and not at me, personally?” she questioned with hesitation.

“Oh, yeah. You’re very witty. It’s a nice surprise,” Robin explained. “I can see why Crusher likes you.” 

Lal smiled brightly and relaxed her defences. It was maybe the nicest compliment she had heard in ages. Maybe she had been too quick to judge Robin as well. Maybe they could be friends.

......

Wesley walked into Ten Forward. He stopped short of reaching the bar when he saw his girlfriend talking with none other than Robin Lefler. He balled his hands into fists reflexively as he felt his blood pressure rise. He was hoping that they could put all this jealousy nonsense behind them and he could just enjoy his vacation. 

As Wesley resumed his approach he was ready for a fight. Then he stopped again; startled by the loud cascade of laughter. Not only was Lal laughing with the ensign who had made a pass at him, she was joking with her and being physically reciprocal as she playfully hit the other woman’s forearm.

“Hi...” Wesley said nervously as he leaned on the bar and got his girlfriend’s attention.

“Hello, Wesley!” Lal greeted him with enthusiasm. Then she all but jumped up on the bar to give him a very big kiss on the lips. Once her feet were back on the floor she gestured to her new friend. “You remember Robin. She and I were just discussing some of her experiences at Starfleet Academy. She is full of wonderful anecdotes.”

The cadet glanced around him as though he was confused, or lost. He wondered for a moment if he had slipped into a parallel dimension where Lal and Robin were buddies. “What’s going on? Are you two playing a prank on me?”

Robin almost choked on her drink. She set the glass down and cleared her throat. “I can see why you would think that,” she conceded. “I think we all got off on the wrong foot. I promise to stop acting like a slut, if you promise to consider taking this lovely girl back with you.”

Wesley thought he had heard her wrong. “Take her back? Did we break up?” he questioned.

“No, silly,” said Robin as she patted the stool next to her, inviting him to take a seat. The young man fixed his girlfriend with a worried look as he obliged. “Lal wants to go back to Earth with you while you attend the academy,” Robin clarified.

“Oh...” he replied slowly as his brain tried to catch up. “But why? This is your home, Lal.”

“I miss you,” Lal said as she took his hand from across the bar. “I do not know that I want to spend another three years waiting for you.”

“Three years isn’t that long,” he retorted. “Besides with all my extra credits it could be more like two.”

“It is a little less than my entire lifespan so far, Wesley,” she said with insistence.

“Oh, well...if you put it that way,” he said with more interest. Though the idea of her being so close, surrounded by strangers while he attended his courses was making his anxiety spike. “Have you talked to Data about this?”

“She shouldn’t have to ask her father, Crusher. She’s a grown woman...more or less,” said Robin, slightly put off by his dismissive attitude.

“I’m sorry, but when did you get involved in this?” Wesley asked sharply as he turned his attention on the ensign beside him.

“Lal and I were talking and she expressed how lonely she’s been without you,” she said with a shrug of one shoulder. “I mean, by the sounds of things you two were basically joined at the hip before you went to the academy.”

He rolled his eyes at the woman’s blatant meddling and turned back to his girlfriend. “This is a very bad idea, Lal.”

“Why? My father was about my age when he began to attend the academy,” she countered.

“But you won’t be attending,” he noted harshly. “You’ll just be living there...and close by, not on campus.”

“Why not on campus?” Both women asked in stereo, making him cringe.

“Because you aren’t a cadet. Robin you know that a non-cadet can’t live on campus,” Wesley complained.

“Yes she can,” Robin said with defiance as she folded her arms over her chest. “You’ve been together for over three years, Crusher. People have had full marriages that lasted a shorter amount of time.”

Lal began to look crestfallen as she saw Wesley’s face grow pale. “Never mind. We are too young and my father would never allow me to live so far away from him,” she said with renewed sadness. “It was only an idea.”

Wesley hated how upset Lal was getting, all because of some silly idea was put into her head by a woman who claimed they were friends. “Look, let’s just talk about it some more.”

Lal wasn’t listening. She walked away to serve someone at the other end of the bar, leaving Wesley alone with Robin.

“You have some nerve,” he snapped.

“Excuse you?” Robin countered, offended.

“I know what you’re doing. I turned you down and this is some sort of weird revenge,” he said accusingly. “Lal and I were fine before you stuck your nose in and stirred things up.”

“Wow. I just mean wow,” she declared with amazement. “You are so full of yourself. Lal only wants to be with you and you’re so fucking terrified that you’re blaming me for giving her the courage to tell you how she really feels.”

Wesley stared at her then as if trying to decide if she was telling the truth. “Lal felt this way before? She told you that?”

“Duh, Crusher, get a clue. She loves you and even though it’s getting harder and harder for me to understand why that is, I totally defend her right to tell you what she wants.”

The cadet glanced down a ways to study his girlfriend. She looked so much in her element, chatting with the officers and serving them their preferred orders because she had them all memorized. He knew she was capable of so much more, but she genuinely looked happy and he would hate to steal her away from her home.

“I don’t know if she’ll like it there. What the hell will she do all day?” he wondered aloud.

“Well, she did have one other idea, but you’ll probably like it even less,” nudged Robin.

Wesley turned towards the ensign, giving her his full attention again. “What?”

Robin took a swig of her synth-ale before answering. “She might have said something about an apprenticeship at Daystrom.”

Wesley looked like his head was about to explode and Robin braced herself. “Are you fucking kidding me!?” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, she said you would react like that,” she said with dismay. 

“No! Absolutely not! Over my dead body!” he huffed.

Lal rushed over when she heard the commotion. “Bruce Maddox is a brilliant mind with so much he can teach me,” she rambled without stopping to apologize. “Father and I got to discussing his work at the latest robotics conference and I believe it would be a very enriching opportunity. This way I would be in Japan and not underfoot and we could still have regular visits, or at least far more frequent visits than we have now.”

Wesley held his head in his hands as he groaned with frustration. Clearly Lal had been giving this some thought for quite some time. If he hadn’t been so caught so off-guard by the idea he would have realized that she was already thinking of going without discussing it with him first.

“So, Data is fine with it?” he asked once he had regained composure. 

“I believe that he will be. Dr. Maddox has given his word to treat me as a respected student and not as a research project.”

“Lal, Dr. Maddox may become your new mentor, but he won’t be your friend. He isn’t family and he’ll be very busy with his work,” Wesley pressed with importance. “What I mean to say is that you’ll be left on your own most of the time.” 

“I will make new friends, Wesley. Today I made one without even trying,” she deflected as she smiled at Robin.

“Yeah, have a little faith, Crusher,” added Robin as she smiled back at Lal.

Wesley could see that he was not going to win in this argument, if he could even call it that. So now he had to mull over what would be better overall. Should he let Lal venture out on her own and allow her to make her own mistakes, or should he get down on one knee and beg her to come back with him to SanFrancisco. He definitely had some thinking to do.

......


	4. Peer Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay....here we go. Things are starting to get weird.

Lal waited for awhile to hear from her father about what Captain Picard had to say about things, but he never got back to her. Guinan was currently away so she was hard at work in Ten Forward and reluctant to leave her duties. However, after several hours and several patrons trying very hard to get her to try the game she decided to take a well-earned break. It wasn’t so much that she hated the idea, it was more the attitude she was getting from them. It was creepy.

To distract herself she went to visit with Keiko O’Brien. She was eager to know what her friend would say about her tentative plans to move to Earth. Unfortunately, even a respectable married couple like the O’Brien’s were not immune to the curiosities of the game.

The android let herself into the family’s quarters and found little Molly crying in her crib. She picked up the infant to console her, concerned that something terrible must have happened to her mother. She walked into the adjacent room to find Keiko enthralled in whatever level she was working on.

“Keiko, I do not mean to sound judgemental, but I believe you should stop playing that game and tend to your daughter; she is crying,” said Lal.

The woman sighed, a serene smile on her lips. “Molly is fine. Babies cry all the time.”

Lal cradled Molly’s head and made sure that the little one didn’t have a fever. She seemed well enough, but her diaper was soiled.

“She needs changing,” Lal informed her.

“Then be a dear and change her,” sighed Keiko, unconcerned by her distress.

“When did you last feed her?”

“Lal, have you tried this game yet? I think it might help relax you.”

Lal narrowed her eyes at her friend. That wasn’t what she cared about right now and she wanted to rip the device off of Keiko’s head.

“Never mind. I will take care of her,” she said politely, instead of berating the neglectful mother. It was clearly not her fault. Something more was going on here and she didn’t like it one bit.

Once Molly was changed into a fresh diaper, she replicated a bottle from the list of most often used formulas on their replicator. Then, deciding that Chief O’Brien could return home soon, she decided to take the infant with her in case he too was suffering from whatever addiction was gripping his wife.

“I am taking Molly with me. I hope you will not mind, Keiko,” she said as she stood in the doorway.

Keiko looked like she had just completed around level because she was blissfully unaware of anything she was saying.

“Computer,” Lal called into the air. “Please notify the O’Briens at a later time that I have their daughter.”

The computer chirped and informed her that her message would be relayed. Then Lal scooped up a plush toy and a blanket, tossed them in a bag and left.

In the corridor she passed Geordi. To her relief he wasn’t wearing the game. She supposed he was probably less susceptible because of his VISOR and visual impairment. It was reassuring that he looked so normal since she was well aware that he was thinking about trying it.

“Hello Geordi,” she greeted him. 

“Oh hi, Lal. Is that Molly O’Brien? Doing some babysitting?” he asked, lightheartedly.

“Yes, something like that,” she told him. “Keiko is quite enamoured with Commander Riker’s game. I thought I would help out while she was preoccupied.”

“Folks do seem quite obsessed with it,” he said with a chuckle. “Have you tried it yet? It’s pretty good.”

“No, Geordi,” she said hesitantly. It sounded like he meant that he had tried it. “Besides it is becoming a nuisance. My Father should be speaking to the captain about it right now.”

Geordi frowned and regarded her for a long moment. “Oh, sweetheart. I guess no one told you.”

“Told me what?”

“Your father...he’s become, how should I put it...inoperable.”

“What? How do you mean?” she asked with alarm.

“He came up to the Bridge and just sort of collapsed. I guess in all the confusion no one thought to tell you.”

Lal could tell that Geordi was doing his best to sound upset about it, but she couldn’t deny his previously cheery disposition when he first walked up to her. That and his reluctance to tell her about her father were sounding alarm bells in her brain. Something was very wrong here. She wondered if Geordi was so influenced by whatever was manipulating the players into continuously playing that he no longer needed to wear the device to feel its effects. 

It was a very frightening prospect. But she knew without a doubt that if Geordi were behaving normally he would be frantically trying to determine what went wrong and wouldn’t leave Data’s side until he fixed him. Instead, he was walking nonchalantly down the hall and making small talk. 

“Well, now that you have told me, can I do anything to help?” she asked, knowing that he would turn her down and further prove her worst fears.

“Nah. Me and Bev have got this. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Hey has that boyfriend of yours starting playing yet? He really should. He’s on vacation after all.”

“Oh yes,” she fibbed, “He cannot get enough of it.”

“Good, that’s really good. Get him to let you have go.”

“I will. Most definitely,” she assured him.

Then they parted ways and Lal rushed towards Wesley’s guest cabin, holding Molly firmly against her. She just hoped that he was still sane, unlike everyone else.

......

Lal rejoined Wesley in his quarters. He could tell that she was agitated, but he didn’t quite understand why she was holding a baby.

“Lal, what’s wrong? Where did you get a baby?”

“This is Molly O’Brien,” she told him as lay her down in the middle of his bed. “Her mother was not fit to care for her.”

“Not fit?” he repeated.

“Something very troubling is going on,” she told him as she crossed over to the table and picked up his game. “Have you played this?”

“God, no.”

“Do not lie to me, Wesley Crusher,” she said sharply.

“Lal, I swear to you that I haven’t. What are you so worked up about?”

She decided that he was being truthful and she fiddled with device’s workings. She was able to locate a chip. She pulled it out and crushed it with her fingers.

“People are behaving strangely,” she said after a time. “More so than just the regular obsession with this game.”

Before he could say anything in response, she was forcing the game onto his head and looping it behind his ears.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

“It is now a non-functional decoy,” she hissed as she easily knocked his hands away from the device. “You need to wear it. I asked Geordi about my father and was told that he had suddenly become inoperable, but that I should not concern myself.”

“What? What are you saying?” Wesley asked with rising anxiety.

“He was going to speak to Captain Picard to see what could be done about on-duty officers who insisted on playing this game. However, it is unclear if he did or not,” she explained. “Geordi informed me that he had inexplicably shut down and he has not been able to resolve the issue,” she continued. “I do not know why, but I do not believe him. He insisted that you should be playing this game. By removing the main chip this unit will look as though it is operational even though it is not.”

“Lal, this is crazy. You’re saying that Geordi, the man who loves Data very dearly, intentionally damaged him so that he couldn’t come back online?”

“I know how it sounds, however I am now worried that they might do the same to me.”

“They?”

“Geordi and your mother,” she clarified.

Wesley ripped the device off of his head. “This is nuts. These are just games.”

“Then why has everyone been so captivated? Even Lieutenant Barclay has been changed by it. He asked if I had tried it yet and became quite insistent that I should, but then he realized that it would most likely be ineffective because I am an android. He used that word, ‘ineffective’. Barclay is shy and awkward with me at the best of times, but he appeared quite confident when he approached me in Ten Forward.”

Wesley stared at the game for a few moments as he tried to decide if there was any merit to his girlfriend’s suspicions. It was a peculiar coincidence that Data would develop a mysterious problem with his systems right after he was meant to speak to the captain about his growing concerns about the game.

“We should go to one of the science labs and analyze this thing,” he said as he flipped it around in his hands, examining it. “Maybe we can figure out what the big deal is.”

Molly fussed and gurgled, almost forgotten on the bed. “What are we going to do with her in the meantime?” he added with a frown.

Lal picked up the baby and rocked her in her arms. “I am scared, Wesley. I have never seen Keiko so indifferent towards her baby. Geordi was just as bad in regards to my father. Perhaps we should forget about the captain and contact Starfleet Command.”

Wesley came to sit next to her and lovingly kissed her temple. Then he stroked the downy hair on Molly’s little head. “You might be right. Maybe Data sounding the alarm was what got him switched off. If we can’t get him functional, maybe we can figure out what this game is really doing to people and how to stop it.”

“We will need to get another, operable game to analyze. Then we will need to make the dangerous journey to one of the science labs.”

“Leave the game to me. I’ll wear the one you broke and go replicate a new one.”

Lal nodded and then retrieved the bottle out of the bag she had brought with her. She proceeded to try to feed it Molly, but the baby squirmed and squealed, resisting it.

“Perhaps she is not hungry,” she said dismay.

“Or maybe she’s picking up on our stress,” he said after giving it some thought. He rubbed Lal’s back as though calming her would help calm the infant. But Lal couldn’t stop thinking about her father and dreading what would happen if he never came back online ever again.

As she started to cry Wesley took the baby and bottle from her. “Let me have her. I know this is a lot to take. We will fix your father, Lal. It’ll be okay. Even if Geordi did something to him, it was probably the least harmful thing he could think of.”

“This is our home. These people are our family,” she whimpered. “I do not understand how this has happened.”

After a few moments of gentle rocking Molly finally latched onto the nipple of the bottle and began to drink. Lal seemed to get distracted by the simple miracle of it.

“How did you do that?”

“I just did what you were doing,” he answered with a shrug of one shoulder.

Lal watched the satisfied smile spread across her boyfriend’s face and she suddenly had a thought she had never had before. It made all the petty jealousy and arguments about where to live and study seem trivial.

“Have you ever thought about having one?” Lal asked softly as she leaned her head on his shoulder and continued to lovingly watch Molly.

“One what?” Wesley asked, not quite catching her meaning.

“A baby...a family of your own,” she elaborated.

“Not really. I thought I would finish at the academy first and go from there,” he told with honesty.

“But you like children. I have observed you with them and you are very natural,” she said with a smile.

“Lal, I love you, but this is not the time for this discussion. Besides we, mainly you, are basically still children ourselves.”

“I did not mean to imply that we would steal Molly and raise her ourselves. I simply wished to know if you ever imagined becoming a father.”

“Sure. One day...a long time from now,” he finally conceded. “Have you ever thought about it?” he added out curiosity. “I mean, Data reproduced by creating another android. I suppose he could have adopted a humanoid child...maybe he and Geordi will one day. But, at the time, he still chose an android like himself over raising a baby.”

“I suppose with you as my partner we would make the decision together.”

“And if one day I’m not your partner?”

She made a face, displaying how much she didn’t care for his comment. As far as she was concerned, barring an unforeseen disaster, they would always be together. 

“Then I do not know. There are many years between my current age and my father’s when he made the decision to create me.”

“Exactly, a lot of years,” he noted with a nervous chuckle. “So no need to worry now.”

She wasn’t worried. At least she hadn’t been before this conversation. Now, not only could she not understand why he would not want to raise to children with her, but how he could insinuate that one day they might not be together. Yes, she was becoming very worried. She only wished that she could talk to her father.

.......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I have to say that I have a couple of observations about posting this story. My first is that this story seems unpopular...which is fine since it is a retelling of an episode—possible a terribly unpopular episode. Personally, it gives me the heebie jeebies and if Ashley Judd wasn’t in it, being amazing, I would probably skip every time it came on or I watched the series.   
> Second...Wesley is still wildly unpopular and Lal is sorta the same as she has been. All that to say that I am still enjoying it and it mostly serves the purpose of setting up my next two instalments. Yeah, I have been writing a lot lately. I hope they prove more popular, not because I am looking for Kudos (which are always appreciated and make me smile) but because I enjoy entertaining other people with weird storylines that come out of my weird brain.   
> Okay end of rant. Thank you, lovely readers:)


	5. Final Level

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wesley has a sexy encounter with Robin and then gets chased around the ship...Hmm...sounds familiar...it’s my take of course ;)

It so happened that Data was being kept in one of the science labs. So after Wesley snatched another game, claiming it was for Lal of course, he made his way down to the lab.

Lal was already there. She had Molly in a sling around her front. Thankfully the baby was sleeping and no longer crying. Lal on the other hand was wiping her eyes as she reviewed the scans of her father.

“Did you figure out what’s wrong with him?” Wesley asked as he came up behind her.

She nodded before looking up at him. “Someone has made the most discreet, microscopic cuts in neural pathways. Anyone else might have missed them altogether. There is no doubt in my mind that Geordi did this.”

“That’s scary..but fixable, right?” he questioned as he rubbed circles on her back. 

“Yes, it is, but it is intricate work and will take time,” Lal told him.

“You get started and I’ll look at this thing,” he suggested as he held up his prize. She nodded a second time and went to make preparations.

Wesley installed the game onto one of the machines. After attaching a few sensors to it, he activated it and let the computer do its thing.

“Have you seen Robin since earlier this afternoon?” he asked over his shoulder.

“No, I have been preoccupied,” Lal answered, looking down at Molly.

“Oh right. I haven’t seen her either, but maybe her stubbornness can work to our advantage. If this is really as bad as it’s looking we could use her help.”

“Agreed,” said Lal. “Anything obvious showing up in the scans?”

Wesley tapped a few buttons and scrolled through the findings so far. “Well, there’s no doubt that it’s doing what you said; stimulating the pleasure center of the brain...but, huh,” he paused as he looked over the secondary findings.

“What is it?” his girlfriend asked as she came to lean over his shoulder. 

“Something’s effecting the frontal lobe. More specifically, the higher reasoning areas of the brain,” he explained with growing dread. “This is not just about addiction. You were right, someone could be implanting suggestions into the players minds without their knowledge.”

“If the players are unaware...perhaps it is similar to a state of hypnosis,” Lal theorized. “The visuals of the game combined with the body’s natural chemicals that are released may put them in a highly susceptible state. We will need to find a way to break the senior officers out of this trance.”

“How? We would almost have to get them all together and snap are fingers, or something.”

“I will begin to analyze this problem further while I attend to my father. You should get down to Engineering and send out a coded distress call.”

Wesley swallowed hard. This was a nightmare. How was he supposed to waltz into Main Engineering and access the sub space relay while pretending to be enthralled by the mind numbing game? They certainly hadn’t covered this in his training at the academy, at least not so far.

Lal was already starting to make the necessary repairs to her father’s network of intricate inner workings. Her boyfriend leaned down and kissed her cheek, as though not wanting to disturb her.

“I’m going to do what I can, but I might get found out. I’ll try to distract whoever comes after me for as long as I can.”

She stopped what she was doing and hugged him, careful of the infant between them.

“I love you. Be careful,” was all she could manage. She did not want to sound as though she was saying goodbye. If Geordi couldn’t do lasting damage to Data, it stood to reason that no one was actually going to harm him if he was found out. These people were still their family.

“I love you too and I will. Work fast, though, okay?” he said with a weak smile.

“You know that I will,” she replied with determination.

Wesley looped the dysfunctional game around his ears. “How do I look?” he joshed.

“Do not forget to look ‘spacey’,” she reminded, missing his attempt to make light of their very bad situation.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a mock salute. Then he relaxed his face and tilted his head slightly to one side. “This good enough?”

“Add the hint of a dopey smile and you are perfect,” she mused.

He tired his best and she shook her head. “Just think of how euphoric you get after sex; you always have that silly little grin. Sometimes you fall asleep with it.”

He knew he shouldn’t have to think so hard about what she talking about, but he was pretty sure he knew what she meant. So he gave it go.

“That is the one,” she said with approval.

......

Wesley did his best to wander slowly through the ship. Luckily, he wasn’t all that far from Engineering. He made a quick stop to his old storage locker to retrieved a few of his old school projects. He wasn’t sure if something would come in handy. 

He had just opened the locker when Robin came to stand beside him. He almost jumped out of his skin when she caught him by surprise.

“Damn it, Robin. Warn a person, don’t just sneak up on me like that,” he scolded as he tried to slow his heart rate.

“Sorry, Crusher, didn’t mean to scare you,” she teased. “What level are you on?” she added as she pointed nonchalantly at the game on his head. Wesley almost forgot that he was wearing the thing.

“Only level three,” he said with feigned dismay, keeping up the pretence. “I guess I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet.”

“That’s not at all surprising. You need to learn to relax. Just let go and the thing practically plays itself,” she hummed with an easy smile.

He had been expecting her to be repulsed. So it was a good thing he didn’t reveal that it was a fake, she seemed to know what she was talking about.

“Oh, so you have been playing? What changed your mind?” he prodded.

“All the cool kids were doing it,” she joked. He tried to refrain from cringing. “I guess I just wanted to have a little fun. What’s the harm in that?” she asked as she pressed herself against his body, trapping him against the locker.

“Hmm, I guess I can understand,” he said, reaching behind her head to release the tie holding up her hair. He smiled seductively as her brunette locks fell softly around her face. 

Instead of continuing their verbal back and forth, Robin lifted herself on the balls of her feet and kissed him hard. Playing along, he kissed her back. In another time and place he would have felt bad about leading her on and giving into temptation. Now was not the time for a moral conscious and he eagerly gripped her by the hair as he flipped them so that she was now against the locker.

More than happy to experience his change of heart, Robin let him press her up metal doors as she hooked one of her legs around his and encouraged him to grind against her. But all of a sudden the game was ripped from his head. Wesley pulled back and stared down at her as she looked it over.

“Tsk, tsk. Such a bad liar,” she scolded—because somehow she knew. Although, any good engineer could easily see that it wasn’t working properly. 

He desperately tried to remove himself from her grasp, but she her leg caused him to lose his balance and he tumbled to the floor.

“What’s the hurry? Afraid your little girlfriend will catch you cheating?”

“Leave Lal out of this,” he sneered as he stood again.

“I’m afraid that we can’t,” she said without sympathy. 

Wesley darted for the door, but he slammed into Worf. “I see you are still resisting,” the Kilingon grumbled.

Having no other option, Wesley backed up as far as he could and hit his comm badge. “Computer, emergency transport, Cadet Crusher.”

Just as the Security Chief and Ensign realized what he was doing, he was gone.

Wesley knew the chase would be on. He was now in one of the cargo bays. Ideally, he would hideout there, with all the containers and various shielding they provided. But he couldn’t stay for long. He still needed to get to Engineering if he could. So he tapped the controls on the transporter unit and tried to find a discrete location he could beam to unnoticed.

He managed to transport into a Jeffries Tube. He only needed to crawl several feet to get to the access ladder. Unfortunately, when he tapped the door open a security officer was on the other side. 

“Fuck,” he cursed as he pounded in code after code to close and lock it again. He would have to go up and around.

So that was what he did. Several minutes later and he came out into an alcove. He took off his comm badge and set it on one the rungs of the ladder. He checked the corridor and heard more security coming his way. So he waited and ducked behind them. He just made it to Main Engineering, practically crawling on his hands and knees so that no one would see him. As he reached the subspace relay, Geordi called out to him. He quickly keyed in a message, but a phaser fired, narrowly missing his hand. 

“Step away from the relay, Mr. Crusher,” commanded Comdr Riker. 

Wesley whipped his head around, not quite believing his ears. “Sir, something’s wrong with you. Actually, something’s wrong with the whole crew,” he told him, knowing full-well that the First Officer wouldn’t care.

“I’m not going to ask you twice, Wes,” was Riker’s only response. 

The cadet put up his hands as he stepped away by half a foot. When Geordi and Will were almost on him and expecting a full surrender, Wesley turned and hit the final sequence to send his SOS. Riker must have clocked him with the hilt of his phaser because there was a splitting pain through his skull and then his world went black.

......


	6. End Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All seems lost, but we get a happy ending. Geordi feels terrible about he’s done to Data.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the rape-y, cringe-y bit. But I changed it slightly.

Lal heard the door swish open behind her. She crouched down and shushed Molly, hoping the baby wouldn’t start fussing and give her away.

It was Reginald Barclay and Robin Lefler.

“You’re sure it’s her you picked up on the scan and not just Data,” remarked Barclay as he played with the settings on his phaser.

“Do I look like an idiot to you?” she retorted harshly. “Yes, it’s her. She wasn’t with Crusher, so she’s here...somewhere.”

They made their way towards her, coming from either side. Barclay spotted the female android under the table and motioned to Robin. She gave him a nod and took out the small phaser from her belt. 

“We know you’re under there, Lal. Don’t make this any harder than it has be. Especially if you have the baby with you,” said Barclay with confidence, sounding altogether un-like himself.

Lal was resolved to give herself up when she heard Robin scream followed by phaser fire. She carefully crawled out from under the table and saw her father sitting up. 

“Lal? What has happened?” Data asked with alarm.

She looked down at the two officers, now unconscious on the floor. “I was about to ask you the same thing, Father.”

“I must have startled Ensign Lefler because she cried out,” he explained. “Then it would appear that she and Lt. Barclay shot each other with their phasers. Why would they have phasers; they are engineers? Are we under attack?”

“Yes...that game Commander Riker introduced to the crew has been systematically brainwashing them and we must find a way to break its’ hold and fast. I believe we may be able to do so with a visual pattern, but I have not been able to resolve which is best.”

Data didn’t question her. He could tell by her tone and by the abnormal speed in which she was speaking that she knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Show me all the information you have so far,” he prompted as he slid off the exam table.

Lal smiled with momentary relief. She could celebrate her father’s return to the living later. Right now they had a ship full of people to save.

......

When Wesley finally came around he was on the Bridge. Worf was holding him down in one of the command chairs. He honestly had no hope of fighting back, the trauma of being forcibly restrained by the people he loved most was too overwhelming. 

His mother was saying something then, but his ears were ringing so loudly that he couldn’t tell what it was. She was probably doing her best to coax him into submission.

Suddenly, his body was flailing and refused to surrender. Worf clamped down hard into one of his shoulders and Riker leaned into the other. He thought he saw Picard hand his mother one the devices and there was no way in heaven or hell that he was going to let his own damned mother stick that orgasm inducing, mind-control thing on his head.

For some reason Deanna must sensed his renewed desire to resist, because she made Beverly hand the game to her. She gave him a sweet smile as she came closer and looped it over his ears.

“Relax, Wes. You’ll like it,” the empath soothed.

Wesley closed his eyes tight and refused to comply.

“Open his eyes,” he heard his captain command.

It felt like Riker and Worf doing the honours, their large, manly fingers roughly forcing his eyes open. Life with Lore was a picnic in the park compared to the psychological scars this was going to leave him. That is if they didn’t all become mindless zombies for the rest of their lives. He said a silent prayer that Data would save them.

With his eyes wrenched open, the game initiated. It was a serene field of pleasant colours. Some sort of cone grew out of the field and a disk flew slowly by. The next time this action happened, no matter how much Wesley wanted it not to, the cone swallowed the disk. It was all over. His free-will slipped away into a blissful pool oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine.

The senior officers released their hold on the young man now that he was so pliant. Captain Picard brought up their new sovereign on the main viewer, ready to report the complete success of squashing their last obstacle.

That was when the lights went down and a flashing filled their collective vision. Data had entered the Bridge via the turbolift and was flashing a pattern to break them all of their hypnotic state.

As everyone cringed and began to become more aware of what was happening, Wesley refocused and violently threw the game from his head.

“What the hell is going on, Mr. Data?” demanded Picard when the lights came back up to full.

“I believe that you will find that there in an vessel off the starboard bow. On board you will discover a woman—the same who seduced Commander Riker on Risa—and her co-conspirators. They have used a seemingly harmless recreational game to brainwash Riker and the rest of crew. The reason for their need to control the Enterprise is still unclear.”

“Mr. Worf, please do us the honour of locking a tractor beam onto said vessel,” said Picard. “Perhaps lock our weapons as well, just in case.”

Worf was already at his position and making it so. “Yes, sir. On it.”

As Captain Picard and Commander Riker turned in unison to address the vile woman on the screen, Wesley took off past Data and exited the Bridge.

Beverly picked up the discarded device on the floor and began to remember some of what had just happened before Data woke them up. “Oh damn,” she muttered.

“I know,” said Deanna as her eyes lingered on the closed lift doors. “Give him some time before you chase after him. This isn’t going to be easy for a lot of people, including Wes.”

Speaking of people who were having a hard time coming to terms with their behaviour; Geordi rushed up to Data, but stopped short.

“It was not your fault, Geordi. I forgive you,” Data told him with resolve.

“I am truly sorry,” he muttered as he flung his arms around his partner.

“I know you are,” the android murmured into his ear.

Normally the very downplayed couple refrained from public displays of affection; especially since Data found them unnecessary. But under the circumstances, it felt much too important not to show each other how much they cared. No one seemed to catch the kiss between them, no one but Deanna.

.....

Lal was trying to reassure Keiko that everything was fine and what had happened was beyond her control. The woman was ashamed, but full of gratitude for the android’s intervention with her baby girl.

As the door to Sickbay opened, Lal turned from her friend, who was holding a tearful Molly. She began crying as well as she rushed over to her boyfriend.

“Wesley, you are alright!” she cried as she threw her arms around him.

“So are you, thank goodness,” he said with gratitude.

“Did they not catch you?”

He shook his head and swallowed hard. “No, they got me alright, but thanks to you and Data we aren’t all someone’s slaves right now. You two are the real heroes.”

That was when she noticed the blood drying near his hairline. “You are bleeding, Wesley. Perhaps you should sit down.”

Much to his relief it was Dr. Selar who came over to treat his head wound. He wasn’t quite ready to face his mother.

Robin came in a few minutes later. She was helping Lt. Barclay, who was leaning in her for support.

“I think he twisted his ankle,” Robin told the doctor as she helped the man to sit on another bed. 

“Are you alright, Robin? You do not seem to be suffering any ill affects from being stunned,” said Lal.

“Stunned?” echoed Wesley with alarm.

“Yeah, well...The details are rather blurry, but I seem to be okay. It’s Reg, here, who’s actually hurt.”

“It-t-t-t’s s-s-so emb-b-barassing,” Barclay stuttered. “S-s-sorry Lal.”

“You were not in your right minds,” Lal told him kindly. She looked over at Keiko and frowned. “No one was, really.”

......

After Sickbay, Lal went to see how her father was doing. She hovered around Geordi as he ran another diagnostic on the elder android. Data knew that she was being overly protective and didn’t believe that her supervision was necessary. Geordi, on the other hand, didn’t mind her eagle eye.

“You did a great job, Lal. I suppose these repairs were a breeze for you,” Geordi commented as he checked over her handiwork.

“They were not too difficult, however I was concerned that I might accidentally cause more harm,” she replied. “I suppose my good repairs speak more to your care in creating the cuts than my ability as a cyberneticist.”

“I don’t know, most of the incisions I made are completely undetectable now. Data’s taught you well,” he added kindly.

“I have taught her very little, Geordi,” said Data. “I believe that it is you who has been the teacher in this instance.”

“Well, how do you like that,” said the engineer with a slight flush to his cheeks. “I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ll take the compliment.” Geordi leaned in and gave Data a peck on the cheek.

Lal smiled briefly at their display before frowning as she considered her own relationship. She was feeling uneasy about it and all the things left undecided.

“You look as though you have something on your mind, daughter. Is it something we can assist you with?” questioned Data with concern.

“Father, before all of this began I wanted to get your feedback about a change I was considering,” she explained.

“Yes, I recall. You said it could wait until later...I suppose now would be later,” he surmised.

“Do you two need a minute, or can I weigh in?” asked Geordi.

“I would very much like to get your opinion as well,” Lal added politely.

“Great. What sort of change?”

“I have been considering changing my area of vocation. While I do still enjoy serving patrons in Ten Forward, I find myself restless and wanting something more,” she rambled thoughtfully. “I also miss Wesley more than I anticipated, so it would be a natural choice to go with him back to Earth while he completes his studies.”

“Gee, I dunno if he’ll have much time for you,” said Geordi after considering what she’d said. “Would you audit classes or something to keep yourself occupied?”

“Well, I was considering another possibility...one that would take me to Earth, but not put me directly in Wesley’s way while he studies.”

“Are you considering Commander Maddox’s offer to study under him?” asked Data.

“Whoa, when did he make that offer? Where was I?” countered Geordi, unsure that this was such a good idea.

“Recently, after we met again at the last cybernetics conference,” Lal informed him.

“And you think that he’ll make good on this offer and give you the attention and education that you need?” pressed Geordi.

“It is highly likely that it will be his assistants and colleagues that will be offering you the support you may require. Maddox is quite...restrictive with with time.”

“What Data means to say is that while Maddox is at the top of his field, he is also a self-obsessed, inconsiderate, arrogant jerk,” Geordi elaborated. 

“I am well aware of Bruce Maddox’s short comings as a human being,” she assured him. “However, it would be vastly educational and impactful to gain insights into other forms of cybernetics that are not directly associated with Dr. Soong’s methodology.”

“Agreed, however you will be on your own for the first time and I am uncertain that you are ready,” said her father.

“Wesley will be close enough, and we can speak often,” Lal rebutted with insistence.

“Sounds like you weren’t so much looking for feedback as you were for permission,” noted Geordi.

“I would like you to allow us both to think this over for awhile,” said Data. “If your goal is to study with Dr. Maddox there is no urgency for you to leave with Wesley.”

“But Father...” She began to object, but he stopped her right away.

“If you intend to apply to the Daystrom Institute it will take time,” he explained. “I would prefer that you were here with myself and Geordi while things are decided and arranged.”

“Then you think that you will let me go?” she asked, feeling more optimistic than a moment earlier.

“I have had you by side for four years. I suppose you should be allowed to venture out one day, whether it is something I approve of, or not.”

Lal hugged him with exuberance. Geordi chuckled at her excitement, his trepidation for the reason of her excitement momentarily forgotten. But before he could remember it, she was hugging him as well and swaying back and forth.

“We have not decided anything yet, Lal,” Data reminded his daughter.

“But you will consider it,” she beamed. “That is all that I ask.”

She did a little twirl and left them alone together.

“How can we say ‘no’ after that? She looked so happy,” mused Geordi.

“I do not know that we can,” he retorted. “Though, I suppose it will be up Dr. Maddox now. He will decide whether or not he he can mentor her.”

“Oh, sure; Maddox will be giddy as a school boy to have a Soong-type android at Daystrom.”

Data frowned at this partner’s comment. Geordi was probably right, which meant Lal would be leaving home.

......

That night Wesley lay in the dark with a pillow over his head. Now that the immediate danger was over he was left with the same dilemma as before; what to do about his relationship with Lal. They were a great team and he loved her very much, but he had to admit that if neither of them had been on the Enterprise they might have lost their entire ship to the plot of some over-ambitious pirates.

The truth was that he may never have an answer that he liked, but he was due to leave again in a couple of days and he knew Lal wanted an answer and she deserved one. 

Wesley refused to get out of bed when he heard the chime on the door. He muttered for the computer to let whoever it was come in.

Lal sat on the bed, bouncing the mattress. “Wesley, I have wonderful news,” she announced. She already knew that he was awake since he had let her in. So she didn’t bother with the niceties of asking him if they could talk.

“What?” he asked, muffled by his pillow.

His girlfriend yanked his shielding away and placed it on her lap. Now she most definitely had his attention. He groaned at sat up. “What is it, Lal?”

“Father and Geordi are considering allowing me to apply to the Daystrom Institute, or rather more precisely to request Dr. Maddox to mentor me.”

“Oh yeah? Neither one them thought that was a bad idea?”

“Although they have their concerns about my being so far away from them, they believe that this is an exceptional opportunity to further my education.”

“And Data believes that he can trust Maddox not to take you apart and use you as a model for more android drones?”

“Wesley, Dr. Maddox does not think that way; anymore,” she told him with only slight hesitation.

“You know what? That’s great because if I’m being completely honest with you I’m so not ready to get married.”

“Married? I never said that I wanted to marry you, Wesley. Perhaps one day, but I believe that was Robin’s idea, not mine.”

“Oh good,” he said with obvious relief.

“Is that why you are hiding here in the dark?” 

When he nodded slowly she picked up the pillow from her lap and whacked him with it. 

“You are a silly boy, Wesley Crusher. You can find the courage to face off against an entire ship of your brainwashed friends, but you cannot face me to tell me about your fears and anxieties?”

“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” he whined.

“Well you have, by not trusting me with yours,” she pouted before hitting him again.

“Okay, okay, I get it. I’m sorry,” he said in surrender. 

She calmly handed him back the pillow. “I will not be travelling with you when you leave, but hopefully we will be reunited in a couple of months.”

He smiled at her then and wrapped his arm around her. “We better make the most of what time we have left of my vacation.”

She already knew what he had in mind and kissed him passionately. She was going to miss him and all of his silliness.

......

End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay done...out of my system. :)  
> Thanks for reading if you’ve made it through.
> 
> Next story features Lal and Bruce Maddox.


End file.
